A mass shooting in a tiny town, and ChatGPT
U.S.-based magazine Mother Jones has reported details of the alleged interactions between Tumbler Ridge shooter Jesse Van Rootselaar and OpenAI’s ChatGPT, including disturbing chatbot prompts and responses about school shooting scenarios.
The Feb. 10 mass shooting left a deep scar on the small community of about 2,400 people in the foothills of the Rockies in northeast British Columbia.
Eighteen-year-old Jesse Van Rootselaar shot and killed five students aged 12 to 13 that day, as well as a 39-year-old education assistant at the school, before killing herself.
Van Rootselaar had earlier shot and killed her mother and 11-year-old half-brother at their family home.
The shooter used OpenAI’s ChatGPT in the months leading up to the attack. OpenAI has acknowledged that Van Rootselaar’s first account was flagged and shut down after she discussed committing an attack, but she created a second account that the company failed to identify.
According to reporting from Mother Jones, the second account was used to continue discussing violent scenarios, with ChatGPT allegedly providing information about weapons and the potential effects of a shooting.
OpenAI has apologized for failing to alert Canadian authorities about the activity and has said it is now working directly with the RCMP’s cybercrime centre, and has strengthened its processes for assessing threats.
The B.C. government and families of victims and others affected by the shooting have since launched lawsuits against OpenAI.
-With files from Andrew Kurjata and Lauren Vanderdeen
